Das Cookbook: German Cooking . . . California Style

A collection of Rockenwagner's inventive German cooking with a California flair, featuring recipes from his popular California restaurants and bakeries.

This cookbook is “filled with fantastic versions of the chef’s singular California-European cooking” that made his beloved restaurants and cafes so famous (LA Weekly).

One of Eater National’s Most Anticipated Cookbooks of 2014
One of Tasting Table’s Best Upcoming Cookbooks
One of CNN Underscored's Best Cookbooks for Traveling the World From Your Kitchen

This modern German-Californian cookbook from longtime Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Hans Röckenwagner features sections on bread-making (yes, pretzel bread!), holiday treats, and bar snacks, along with the most popular recipes from his several Los Angeles restaurants, including 3 Square Cafe on famed Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Cafe Röckenwagner in Brentwood.

From fresh, light salads inspired by the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, where Röckenwagner shops weekly, to such hearty German classics as spätzle and schnitzel, to the breads and baked goods for which he is renowned, Das Cookbook shares all of Röckenwagner’s best recipes, all created, tested, and perfected for the home cook.

Hans Röckenwagner's background spans thirty years of cooking in Germany, Switzerland, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In the 1980s, he won international fame for his fine-dining restaurant in Santa Monica, Röckenwagner; today, he owns several LA-area bakery/cafes and a large wholesale bakery. Hans is known for his individuality, innovative dishes, and his craftsmanship in designing and building his restaurants (he is also a master woodworker). This is his second cookbook.

Jenn Garbee is a food reporter and editor who has written for the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Cooking Light, Saveur, and more. An expert recipe tester and developer, Jenn has a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu and has worked in professional kitchens across Los Angeles. She is also the author of Secret Suppers and the co-author of the 2015 St. Martin's Press book, Tomatomania!

Wolfgang Gussmack has been Hans's chef de cuisine since 2012. A native of Graz, Austria, Wolfgang started his culinary career cooking spätzle for his family's restaurant and gasthaus. This experience earned him a spot in Austria's only two-star Michelin restaurant and subsequently led him to renowned kitchens in Italy and France before he came to Los Angeles.

Photographer Staci Valentine is based in Los Angeles; her other cookbooks include The Perfect Peach.